US History II

Spark of the Depression – Stock Market Crash–stock prices plunged – Black Tuesday – 10/29/29

Weakened industries were not profitable

Agriculture lacked profit; indebted farmers

Consumer spending was down

Poor distribution of wealth◦ Consumers indebted – installment plan

Stock Market crash triggered bank runs

1933 - 6000 banks had failed (1/4 of total)

85,000 bankrupt businesses

25% unemployment by 1933

Hoovervilles (shantytowns)

1930 – highest tariff in US history – backfired◦ Tariff war

◦ Global trade plunged

Global Depression

AB

CD

1. Describe each photo presented here.

2. How do each of these photos differ? What are some common themes that seem to be shared by all four photos?

Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home

This Land is Your Land

This Land is your land - modern

Early Response: “Gov’t handouts will weaken self-respect and will to work

Hoover felt social welfare could be left to charity

After 1930 elections – Hoover changed positions

No forms of direct government relief for food/jobs

Increased malnutrition, disease

300,000 “hoboes” wandered country

Suicide rate – up 30%

Shantytowns aka “Hoovervilles” throughout cities

Soup kitchens/breadlines

400,000 farm foreclosures – 1929-32

1. Describe the shift in power that took place in Congress after the 1930 elections.

2. In your opinion, for what specific reasons did this shift occur?

3. Predict how this shift in power might affect change? How might this shift in power affect the actions of President Hoover, the Republican incumbent?

Drought, then windstorms

Previous overproduction had damaged soil

“Okies” left plains for California

Hoover’s weak response led to Democratic Party Landslide in 1930 election

Meanwhile -“Hoovervilles” dotted the country

Boulder (later Hoover) dam – 1930

Federal Home Loan Bank Act – 1932 – refinancing for mortgages and indebted farmers

Reconstruction Finance Corporation – 1932- $2 billion of emergency financing to key businesses

Spring 1932 -1000s of WWI vets marched on DC

Demanded early payment of WWI bonus ($500)

Senate passed Patman Bill for bonus – Hoover veto

President Hoover – saw marchers as troublemakers

Bonus Army – gassed – 7/28/1932

Well, this will elect me – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Roosevelt’s campaign – focused on bringing change/restoring economy

Hoover blamed for Depression, country’s problems

Roosevelt not inaugurated til March 4, 1933

20th Amendment – moving presidential inauguration to January – not in effect yet

Roosevelt used “brain trust” to plan as he waited

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear... is fear itself –Roosevelt’s inaugural address

“New Deal” - broad set of economic reforms -introduced

Congress passed 15 pieces of New Deal legislation

Banking and Finance Reform – Bank Holiday

Explained programs on radio – “Fireside Chats”

Glass-Steagall Act – 1933 – created FDIC – bank deposits insured up to $5000

Federal Securities Act -1933- accountability for corporations that offered stock

Securities Exchange Commission -1934-regulated stock market

The New Deal developed an “alphabet soup” of programs to help speed recovery

**Rapidly expanded the reach of government

Agriculture - Agricultural Adjustment Act –raise crop prices by lowering production

Employment Projects- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Housing – Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) – relief loans to prevent foreclosure

- Conservatives saw FDR/Congress as meddling with economy

Struck down by Supreme Court

1935 -NIRA – National Industrial Recovery Act

1936 – AAA – Agricultural adjustment Act

** 1937 – Roosevelt promoted a “court-packing” bill

1937-41 – Roosevelt got to nominate 7 justices

Huey Long – income caps and minimum incomes

Dr. Francis Townsend – pensions for old

Father Charles Coughlin – guaranteed annual income

1. How popular must Roosevelt and the New Deal have been?

2. How do the popular and electoral vote differ?

Roosevelt sealed resolve with more programs at midpoint of first term

1936 – Another Roosevelt Landslide

8 million jobs created – 1935-1943

Criticized as “make-work” program

$1 billion in loans to tenant farmers and migrant workers to help become landowners

FSA –massive photo-history campaign

1 of most enduring legacies of New Deal◦ Old-Age insurance

◦ Unemployment compensation system

◦ Disability aid

Protected right to unionize – union membership skyrocketed

Established National Labor Relations Board

Maximum work hours – 44 hours weekly

Federal Minimum Wage (25 cents/hour)

Increased child labor laws for those under 16; banned under-18s from “hazardous work”

Frances Perkins – Secretary of Labor – 1933-45◦ Represented a shift toward greater inclusion of women

Mary McLeod Bethune – helped organize a panel of influential African-Americans to advise president

Still, Roosevelt was cautious on civil rights

Diverse Groups dedicated to Democrats◦ Southern whites

◦ Urban groups

◦ Blacks

◦ Unionized industrial workers

1933-41 – Union membership – 3 mil. To 10 mil.

Late 1930s – 65% of public attending movies weekly –source of news

1940 – 90% of homes had a radio

Serious art, literature, and music

Focused on realism and difficulty of the American experience

“I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day… I see one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”

-FDR – inaugural address - 1937

Liberal – New Deal did not go far enough

Conservative – New Deal hurt ambitions, work ethic

FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation–insures your deposits

SEC – Securities Exchange Commission – regulates banking and investment

Social Security – still provides Americans with benefits

National Labor Relations Board – still regulates problems between labor and workers

Farm subsidies

Continually Existing New Deal Infrastructures

Conservation

Expanded national park system